Easy on the doom n gloom..you have a great team that has been making huge strides...I expect you in the afc elite for years to come as long as andrew luck doesn't start owning the division.

Question..do you think the pats could just be an awful matchup?

Ie, the ravens could never do anything about Peytons colts. Even when they were similar quality and similar record teams..Peyton blew them out and made them look bad, consistently.

Likewise..those colts regularly choked vs chargers.

Just looking at some of the matchups..you love to run the ball up the middle and really establish your offense around foster. Well foster, meet wilfork.

On d...jj watt is phenomenal, one of a kind. But brady was gettin it out ridiculously fast most of the time.

Jjo, an exceptional talent. .is on the outside covering. ...Lloyd?

Your injured lb core is Bradys favorite to pick on (wes, Hernandez and rb mismatch).
You guys blew out the ravens. ..and, ray Lewis or not, imo you woulda beat them again if you had advanced.

Fyi, not suggesting that Texans aren't flawed or that there isn't opportunity to improve. Just that youre a lot better than you look in Foxboro.

Thoughts?

Yes, I think it's a bad match-up for the Texans. Houston plays a man-coverage style defense. Elite QB's who can fit the ball into tight coverage can destroy it. Tom Brady is an elite QB that has eaten this defense up.

Now I don't quite understand why Schaub hasn't been effective against the Patriots defense but for whatever reason, he hasn't. For the most part the Texans offense hasn't been as effective since the first game in Foxboro, though. It could actually have nothing to do with the match-up, but it could just be the Texans offense in general.

not sure about bad matchup they are just a better team..I have them beating the Ravens then losing to the 49ers in the sb..super jealous of your qb/coach.

I think I woulda rather lost in the first round. Nothing stings more than a sb loss (especially when it always comes down to some 4th q comeback.) Not sure i can argue tho..SF is just scary on both sides of the ball

I think I woulda rather lost in the first round. Nothing stings more than a sb loss (especially when it always comes down to some 4th q comeback.) Not sure i can argue tho..SF is just scary on both sides of the ball

I don't know. I think you guys have the speed on the edges to control Kap if discipline is maintained. I guess Gronk is out and that is a blow but Hernandez and Welker can still hit the underneath crossing stuff for YAC. The Niners pull their best LB a lot. Gore likes to run right into Wilfork territory moreso than bounce outside (which I have no idea why we didn't run more of our wide zone stretch play). I expect you will beat the Ravens and we'll find out.

By the way (now that you are being much more civil) check out the Dynasty thread in the NFL forum. You will find your team gets plenty of respect.

Yes we are a bad matchup with Brady, your O-line is excellent in pass protection and one of the best QB's ever cuts us up like a turkey at Thanksgiving. N.E. should beat the Ravens handily but I think S.F. will win the Super Bowl. Best of luck to you Gronked....

i've been saying since preseason - we dont match up with the packers or patriots. the packers have a much higher chance of not showing up to full potential, and would give us a fair shot at stealing some games, but that's something we rarely see from the patriots. i'd expect us to lose 4 out of 5 against the patriots until we significantly improve our coverage from the linebacker position.

playcalling and discipline hasnt done us any favors this season against yall, so i think we should've kept both games much closer, but as you suggested we simply dont match up well at all against the patriots. you have the biggest hurdle for our offense - a wall at nose. our run plays are destroyed when the guards are pushed backwards at the snap and it dominoes from there. on defense, as i said it's about the linebackers. without cushing we have zero coverage ability and actually have to lean on our OLB's to drop or play man to man while the ILB's are running around lost.

I definitely think NE is a big match up problem for us. Mainly because your play makers seem to play with more urgency, i.e. they know when they need to step up & they do it.

We've got a guy crossing the goal line with the football at eye level, but somehow it goes right through his fingers.

Offensively & defensively, we've got guys on this team that we believe match up with the great players all over this league, but when the bright lights are on, they show the world a totally different guy.

From QB to waterboy. We've got maybe three guys who get it. When playing the Patriots & their 11 to 15 guys who get it, we're out gunned.

Going against a Baltimore, or a Denver, we're on even ground. Our best 3 or 4 against their best 3 or 4.

But when your third string running back understands he's got to make a play & makes that play.... we can't compete with that.

I definitely think NE is a big match up problem for us. Mainly because your play makers seem to play with more urgency, i.e. they know when they need to step up & they do it.

We've got a guy crossing the goal line with the football at eye level, but somehow it goes right through his fingers.

Offensively & defensively, we've got guys on this team that we believe match up with the great players all over this league, but when the bright lights are on, they show the world a totally different guy.

From QB to waterboy. We've got maybe three guys who get it. When playing the Patriots & their 11 to 15 guys who get it, we're out gunned.

Going against a Baltimore, or a Denver, we're on even ground. Our best 3 or 4 against their best 3 or 4.

But when your third string running back understands he's got to make a play & makes that play.... we can't compete with that.

QFT. Really hit the nail on the head. I think it even spreads to coaching. We can say what we want about Belichek but the guy adapts and adjusts in pre-planning and during the game. Sometimes when watching the defense not line up in time or cover someone...at all...I had to say to my son 'It's like they didn't even watch any game film or prepare at all.' Not to mention our verrrryyyy slow no-huddle offense.

It's one thing to get beat man on man. It's another to come and seem un-prepared and get beat on the mental aspect.

QFT. Really hit the nail on the head. I think it even spreads to coaching. We can say what we want about Belichek but the guy adapts and adjusts in pre-planning and during the game.

I agree completely. I put this game as well as last year's divisional loss squarely on the coaches. I think Matt Schaub has a better game in him, but we didn't set things up in his favor. I know Arian has a better game in him, but we didn't set it up in his favor. I know Jj Watt, Kareem Jackson & Jjo have better games in them, but we did not set them up to succeed.

No doubt in my mind, that those coaches are smarter men than me. & if I could see opportunities we could have exploited, I don't understand why they didn't.

YES. A bad matchup for us.... especially without Cushing, and multiplied when in your house.

Our strengths match up with your strengths.... i.e. Watt vs your O-line and Bradys quick decision making/release. And our running game vs your run D (Vince Wilfork). Compounded by the fact that our offense is predicated off the running game, and the fact that we play far better with a lead.

Conversley your strengths matchup vs our weaknesses. Your passing game vs. wide open middle of the D (ILBs shredded).... and your passing game vs. our man coverage defense which is exposed when we cannot get to the QB. Our sacks were down this year without legit ILBs to confuse blitz packages and coverages.

Good luck vs. the Ravens. You wont need it. But as it has been said... the 49ers may be a bad matchup for you.

For years the Texans FO tried to build a team that could beat the Manning-led Colts.

It looks like they have to set their sights higher now and try to build a team that can compete with the Patriots.

It seems every team in this league, including the Pats, has a team that gives them trouble. I heard a stat this morning about Brady in the playoffs. In his 6 losses, four of them had QB rating around 60. Two of those four games were against the Ravens. And looking at last year's AFC championship game, the Ravens should have won it if they could just execute simple things like catching an easy pass in the endzone.

__________________"Football is only a diversion." ~ Houston Texans, Inc.

For years the Texans FO tried to build a team that could beat the Manning-led Colts.

It looks like they have to set their sights higher now and try to build a team that can compete with the Patriots.

It seems every team in this league, including the Pats, has a team that gives them trouble. I heard a stat this morning about Brady in the playoffs. In his 6 losses, four of them had QB rating around 60. Two of those four games were against the Ravens. And looking at last year's AFC championship game, the Ravens should have won it if they could just execute simple things like catching an easy pass in the endzone.

Hmm usually when I think bad matchup I think giants for obvious reasons.

Brady has 2 playoff losses vs ravens? I thought just one, the week after wes got injured. But yeah, they always play us tough.

For years the Texans FO tried to build a team that could beat the Manning-led Colts.

It looks like they have to set their sights higher now and try to build a team that can compete with the Patriots.

It seems every team in this league, including the Pats, has a team that gives them trouble. I heard a stat this morning about Brady in the playoffs. In his 6 losses, four of them had QB rating around 60. Two of those four games were against the Ravens. And looking at last year's AFC championship game, the Ravens should have won it if they could just execute simple things like catching an easy pass in the endzone.

This makes a lot of sense. Hopefully we'll be the top seed in the AFC South for years to come & we'll be playing the Patriots, Ravens, & Denvers every year.

Just heard on the radio that espn assigned reporters to all teams last weekend except the texans.

Also, Gatorade was doing a photo shoot for a superbowl ad at the stadiums and the texans didn't participate because of some $80 fee that Gatorade didn't want to pay in order to get the texans photographer to the stadium.

Thanks for the good words, Pats fan. A lot of the doom n gloom is part and parcel of the late season meltdown. This city has had a lot of sports heartbreak and to miss out (choke) on home field advantage has only reopened old wounds.